Attachment for elevated potato-diggers.



G. W'. COOPER. ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATED POTATO magmas. APPLICATION FILED D3010, 1909. 1,015,299, Patented Jan.23, 1912.

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WITNESSES I A INVENTOR ATTORNEYS toLuMnlA PLANOGRAPI! 60., WASHINGTON, n. c.

G. W. COOPER. ATTAGHMBNT FOR ELEVATED POTATO DIGGERS.

I APPLIGATION FILED 17180.10, 1909. 1,015,299.

Patented Jan. 23, 1912.

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INVENTOR 62 0/76 fi/ [50,061 M Z ATTORNEYS WITNESSES G. W, COOPER. ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATED POTATO DIGGBRS. APPLIOATION FILED DBO.1 0, 1009.

1,015,299, Patented Jan. 23, 1912.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WITNESSES INVENTOR I 630/376 4750 26 1 v 7 By ATTORNEYS COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH C0,,WASHINGTON. D. C.

G. W. COOPER.

ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATED POTATO DIGGERS. APPLIOATION 311.21) 10120.10, 19o9.'

Patented Jan. 23, 1912;

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ATTORNE Y8 couzmmA PLANOGIMPH "204, WASHINGTON. n c.

, G; W. COOPER. ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATED POTATO DIGGERS.

APPLIOATION FILED D30. 10, 1909.

1,015,299. Patented Jan.23,1912

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

WITNESSES afwyefi/loa am ATTORNEYS v COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPII CO-IWASIHNGTDN, n. c.

' distributing means for the potatoes; and. Fig. 6 is a vertical section through the parts, shown in Fig. 5 taken on the line 66 of} UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE WILLIAM COOPER, O F ll?A'I|I"1E1\T, MAINE.

ATTACHMENT. FOR ELnvA'rnn POTATO-DIGGERS.

Specification of Letters llatenta Application filed December 10, 1909. SerialQNo. 532,351.

emptied into the barrels, and a further object of the invention is to construct the machine so as to facilitate the carrying of the empty barrels which are to befilled.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts to be more-"fully described hereinafter and particularly 'set' forth in the claims. u

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation ofa machine provided with my invention; Fig. 2 is a plan of the machine shown in Fig.1; Fig. 3" is a vertical section through the machine taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. land looking forwardly; Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line l4 of Fig. 1 and looking toward the rear; Fig. 5 is a plan projected upon an inclined plane and illustrating a part of the Fig. 5. Y

. Referring more particularly to the parts, 1 represents the forward truckof the machine which is mounted upon a wheel 2,; and

this truck has a swivel pin '3 connecting it" with the forward end of the mainframe of the machine.

bars 5 which extend rearwardly from the front end of the frame, and to the sides'of these frame bars 5, side platforms 6 are attached by means of a common through bolt 7, as indicated .most clearly in Fig. 1.

The form of these platforms is clearly shown in Fig. 2. They are elongated in the' longitudinal direction of the axis ofthe machine, and their forward ends: are curved The-forward end of the frame 4; comprises a pair of parallel 'frame' and turned inwarolly so as to form horns,

the ends of which converge and are attached by "means'ofthe bolt 7 ,as described above. The frame bars 5 betweenthe platforms'6, arecurved upwardly so as to form bows '8. The rear ends of these bows support a main chute or digger 9. This digger. is in the form of an inclined trough, to the lower end of which a shovel or plow 1O is attached.

To the rear ends of-the bars 5, and to the rear ends of the platforms 6, a back "frame 11 is attached, said back frame'including uprights .12 to whi'cha wheel guard frame 13 isattached. This wheel guard 13 com- Patented Jan. 23,1912.

prises side bars 14 which extend in .a front and rear direction around the periphery of a wheel 15 which is rotatably mounted in the interior of the guard. This wheel is mounted to rotate on a horizontal axis "extending in a front and rear direction. The body of the wheel is formed of parallel hoops or ribs 16, and the rim of the wheel runs on guide wheels 17 mounted in suitable brackets 18on theouter side of the wheel 15 and attached'to the guard frame 13, as will'be readily understood. At the rear side of the 7 wheel a'sprocketfl wheel 19 is formed, about the rim offwhich a sprocket chain 20 passes for driving-the wheel continuously, andin addition to the guide wheels 17 which are disposedon theou'ter side-of the wheel, simi-;,,

lar guide wheels 21 are provided on the in ner side, ,These wheels roll on the innerand outer edges ofan annular side plate 22, as

indicated in Fig.4. It should be under stood that there are two of these side plates or flanges which are disposed a distance 1 apartequa'l to the width of the wheel.. The

rearmost of thesefianges is formed .by' the gear wheel 19'referred to above.

As ind'cated mostclearly in Fig.3, be if tween theplatforms 6. a main shaft oraxle 23 is mounted, and on this axle driving wheels 24' are mounted which run upon the ground, as'jshown. The inner edges. of'the platforms 6"are attached to this axle ad I jacent to the wheels 24, as shown. On the 7 outer sides of the platforms 6, outer wheels 25" are mounted, which also run upon the ground, these wheels, however, are not driving wheels and simply support the outer edges ofthe platforms. This axle23 is pro- 'vided with a sprocket wheel 26, over which runs a sprocket chain, 27. This sprocket chain extendsupwardly and rearwardly in an inclined directionand passes around a sprocket wheel 28 on a counter shaft 29 which is mounted in a transverse position, as indicated in Fig. 4, at the forward side of the guard frame 13. The sprocket wheel 28 is rigid with a clutch collar 30 which cooperates with a movable clutch collar 31 which is adapted to he slid along the shaft by means of a shifting lever 32. This collar 31 affords means for driving a short shaft 33 which extends over toward the side of the wheel and is provided with a bevel gear wheel 34 for driving a countershaft 35 at the left side of the machine, as indicated in Fig. 2. The forward end of the counter-shaft 35 is provided with a bevel gear 36 which meshes with the bevel gear 34, as shown. At a suitable point the shaft 35 is provided with a sprocket wheel 37, over which the aforesaid sprocket chain 20 passes, as indicated in Fig. 4.

Referring again to the wheel 15, and referring especially to Figs. 1 and 4, between the hoops 16, curved fingers 38 are attached, which form pockets for raising the potatoes which are thrown into the wheel in a manner which will be described more fully hereinafter. In order to assist in retaining the potatoes, the inner side of the wheel on the right side thereof, is provided with a curved guard hook or bow 39. The upper end of this hook 39 is disposed over a hopper 40 which is disposed under the upper portion of the rim of the wheel. per inclines forwardly and downwardly so that the potatoes which it receives will be delivered to a conveyer chute 41 which inclines upwardly and forwardly. Within this conveyer chute a conveyer belt 42 is mounted, and this belt is driven from the rear end by means of a gear 43 which meshes with a similar gear wheel 44. This latter gear wheel 44 1s rotatably mounted on a shaft 45 and is rigid with a sprocket wheel 46. This sprocket wheel is driven by means of a sprocket chain 47 which passes up over the shaft 29. The sprocket wheel passes up around a sprocket wheel 48 upon the shaft 29, as indicated in Fig. 4. The forward end of the conveyer chute 41 delivers to a second chute 49which inclines forwardly and downwardly, as indicated in-Fig. 1. The chute 49 is provided with a false bottom 49 in which there is mounted a screen or grid 50, said screen presenting a plurality of bars 51 extending longitudinally of the chute. The forward end of the chute is provided with converging side walls 52 and in these side walls 52, openings are provided, at which branch chutes or trunks 53. are attached, one of these branch chutes extending toward the right, and the other toward the left. The side walls 52 meet on the central axis of the chute 49, and at the meeting point or vertex 54 of the angle between them, shutters 55 and 56 are pivoted. These This hopshutters have handles 57 and 58 respectively, which extend through the openings 59 formed through the walls 52 at this point. Each of these shutters is mounted in the triangular space between the inclined walls 52 so that they may close communication from the chute through either of the branches or trunks 53.

As indicated in Fig. 3, the outer ends of the trunks 53 are turned downwardly so as to form snouts 60, and on these snouts nozzles 61 are mounted, said nozzles being sccured rigidly to a transverse shaft 62 mounted in the central frame 63 of the machine. The angular position of this shaft (32 is controlled by means of a lever (34, and this lever is provided with locking mechanism 65 cotiperating with a segment 66 so as to hold the nozzles pointing toward the rear, as indicated in the full lines in Fig. 1, but inclining toward the front as indicated in the dotted lines. These nozzles 61 are disposed over substantially the middle points of the platforms 6, as indicated in Fig. and this portion of the platforms is inclosed by means of chains 67 which constitute rails connecting upright posts 68, as indicated most clearly in Fig. 2. In this space barrels 69 may be placed to be filled with the potatoes. At suitable points the platforms 6 are provided with uprights or posts 70 and these posts are adapted to hold barrels in an inverted position, said barrels being indicated by the dotted. lines 71 in Fig. 2. As the barrels 69 under the nozzles become filled, they will be removed and empty barrels placed in their stead.

As indicated in Fig. 3, the forward end of the shovel 10 is formed with a tapered point,

and within the digger trough 9 a conveyer 72 is mounted and this conveyer is driven in any suitable manner, not shown, so that the potatoes which are dug from the earth pass upwardly and rearwardly. The rear end of this digger delivers to a shaker box 73, indicated in Fig. 4. This shaker box extends rearwardly into and beyond the interior of the wheel 15. It presents a plurality of elevated bars 74, disposed a considerable distance apart, and a plurality of similar bars 7 5, which are disposed close together. These bars allow the dirt to pass between them, but hold the potatoes and guide them into the carrier wheel 15. The bars 74 allow the potatoes to pass between them, but do not allow potato tops, sods and large stones to pass between them. During the operation of the machine, the potatoes on the bars 75 are shaken into the carrier wheel 15, and the potato tops, sods, etc., on the bars 74 are shaken and pushed rearwardly by a pushing device (not illustrated) into and beyond the carrier wheel 15, and drop to the ground.

The digger 9 may be adjusted by means of an adjusting lever 76 cooperating with a quadrant 77 and connected with the inner edges of the platforms, as shown. At the forward end of the bars 5, a seat 78 is provided for the driver, and near the bows 8 of these bars, a seat 79 is attached where:

tatoes pass from the wheel into the hopper 40, from which they are taken by the belt inthe conveyer chute 41. The potatoes then pass down the chute a9, passing over the screen 50. The smaller potatoes pass between the bars 51, and the larger potatoes pass over the screen without falling through. f

By means of the shutters 55 and 56 the large potatoes may be guided into theright trunk 53 or into the left trunk 53. By means of the lever 64: and the shaft 62, the nozzles may be inclined so as to fill either of the two barrels 69 on the platforms. In thisway the potatoes dug will be delivered to the barrels in a sorted condition.

The wheel 15 and frame may be attached to the shaker box 7 3, which is connected to the digger frame 9 (see Fig. 7), thus disconnecting the platforms 6 at the rear end- (see Fig. 3). And a hinge may be added in the axles of the wheels 25, and also hinges on the platform frame 6 at or near thebolt 7 (see Fig. 1), thus allowing the platforms 6 and the wheels 25 to play up and down on rough ground.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a frame, a pair'of platforms attached to said frame at the forward end thereof, means for supporting a plurality of empty receptacles on said platforms,

wheels mounted between said platforms, -a

delivery chute disposed on the central axis of said machine between said platforms, branch trunks connected with said delivery chute 'and leading to points over said platforms, said trunks being disposed over the axis of said wheels, a screen in said delivery chute adapted to separate the potatoes,

means for guiding the potatoes which pass over said screen into either of said trunks, means for guiding the potatoes which pass through said screen into either of said trunks, and means for raising and delivering potatoes to said delivery chute.

2-VID. a machine of the class'described, in-

combination, a frame, platforms attached to Y said frame at the front and rear ends thereof, a transverse axle mounted between said platforms, driving wheels mounted on said transverse axle, outside wheels secured to the'outer edges of said platforms, a delivery chute disposed over the central axis of said frame, means for raisingvand delivering potatoes to said delivery chute, driving connections between said means and said driving wheels, a screen. in said delivery chute, trunks leading from said delivery chute to .points over said platforms, means for guiding the potatoes which pass over said screen into either of said trunks, and means for guiding the potatoes which pass through said screen into either of said trunks.

In testimony whereof I have signed .iny

name to this specification in the two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE WILLIAM ooo'rnnf Witnesses HALBERT P. GARDNER, FRED W. HODGMAN.

presence of Copies of this'patent may be obtained. for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

